Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

87 AND 87A AND 2 AND 4 GILES STREET WITH BOUNDARY WALLS AND GATEPIERS, ALSO KNOWN AS THE VAULTS, EDINBURGHLB27446

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
A
Date Added
14/12/1970
Local Authority
Edinburgh
Planning Authority
Edinburgh
Burgh
Edinburgh
NGR
NT 26927 76263
Coordinates
326927, 676263

Description

1682, incorporating vaults possibly of 16th century, heightened 1785, converted to flats and offices 1984. 4-storey 11-bay warehouse with enclosed courtyard to front. Cream sandstone, coursed rubble with some ashlar dressings. Relieving arches over most windows.

NW (front) elevation: gabled centre bay with apex stack (1785), carved inscribed panel above ground floor; larger rectangular opening at ground floor. Single windows. Former hoist doors (now with iron window guards) and hoist gable to 3rd bay. Hoist doors and gable (as above) to 9th bay, doorway at ground floor; architraved doorway at 1st floor with bracketted landing accessed by forestair with iron balusters, 2-leaf panelled door. 10th and 11th bay with doorways at ground floor (10th bricked-up), 1st floor windows heightened with transoms and joined to blocked 2nd floor windows.

SW (Giles Street) elevation: 3-bay gabled with moulded skews and apex stack. Tall transomed windows at 1st floor, centre window bipartite with bracketted cill and finialled pediment with carved date '1785'. 2 windows at 3rd floor, inscribed panel to centre. Corniced window with window guard to gablehead.

NE (St Anthony Street) elevation: gabled with apex stack. Broad, pedestrian doorway at ground floor. Broad windows to centre bay, bipartite, with window guard at 2nd and 3rd, partly blocked at 1st floor.

SE (rear) elevation: irregular single and bipartite windows; modern dormer and skylights to roof.

Mostly modern small-pane timber casement windows, some 12-pane sash and case windows. Modern pantiled roof; 3 apex stacks (see above).

Interior: vaulted cellar with central tunnel and 4 vaulted cellars off. Room at ground floor with coved, elaborate floral plaster ceiling and cornice, plaster cartouche with putti motif and swagged niche, in style of Thomas Clayton (mid 18th century). Large room at 1st floor (taking up 2 floors) with deep cornices and late 19th/turn of the century woodwork.

Boundary walls and gatepiers: tall rubble later 19th century wall with flat coping enclosing courtyard to front, 2 tall red sandstone ashlar gatepiers, pedimented ogival coping with ball finial.

Statement of Special Interest

Statutory address updated, 2015. Previously listed as '85 and 86 and 2 and 4 Giles Street with Boundary Walls and Gatepiers, also known as The Vaults'.

References

Bibliography

RCAHMS Inventory 'City of Edinburgh', pp256-7. Gifford et al, Edinburgh (1984), p473. The plasterwork in the coved room is in the style of Thomas Clayton, a Leith resident; it is probable that it is by him. He worked with the Adam family executing work of similar quality for them such as at Hopetoun House.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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